Hey everybody! In today’s Crochet 101 lesson, I’m going to teach you how to increase and decrease stitches. I’ll break it down so you understand how to increase and decrease using a single crochet, half double crochet, and double crochet stitches. Each section will have step-by-step instructions on how to achieve this. Gather up your supplies and let’s begin!
How to Single Crochet Increase/Decrease
Let’s start with 20 chains. Single crochet into the 2nd chain from your hook and into each stitch across. Check out my single crochet lesson if you don’t know how to make a single crochet.
To work a single crochet increase you would simply single crochet twice in the same stitch. Here I am increasing at the beginning and at the end of each row. As you can see, this makes each row bigger and bigger and creates more stitches.
To work a single crochet decrease, begin making your first single crochet, but don’t complete the stitch. You should have two loops on your hook.
Instead of doing a yarn over and completing the stitch, insert your hook into the next stitch and draw up a loop. There should be a total of three loops now.
Yarn over and pull through all three loops.
Like the increase, I am doing a single crochet decrease at the beginning and end of each row. The more you decrease, the more your rows will become smaller and have fewer stitches.
How to Half Double Crochet Increase/Decrease
Again, let’s start with 20 chains. Half double crochet into the 2nd chain from your hook and into each stitch across. Check out my half double crochet lesson if you don’t know how to make a half double crochet.
To work a half double crochet increase you would simply half double crochet twice in the same stitch. I am increasing at the beginning and at the end of each row. When you increase at the beginning and end, each row will get bigger and you will have more stitches.
To work a half double crochet decrease, begin making your first half double crochet, but don’t complete the stitch. You should have three loops on your hook.
Instead of doing a yarn over and completing the stitch, yarn over and insert your hook into the next stitch and draw up a loop. There should be a total of five loops on your hook.
Yarn over and pull through all five loops.
Like the increase, I am doing a half double crochet decrease at the beginning and end of each row. The more you decrease, the more your rows will become smaller and have fewer stitches.
How to Double Crochet Increase/Decrease
Once again, start with 20 chains. Double crochet into the 2nd chain from your hook and into each stitch across. Check out my double crochet lesson if you don’t know how to make a double crochet.
To work a double crochet increase you would simply double crochet twice in the same stitch. I am increasing at the beginning and at the end of each row. When you do this, each row will get bigger and you will have more stitches.
To work a double crochet decrease, begin making your first double crochet, but don’t complete the stitch. You should have two loops remaining on your hook.
Instead of doing a yarn over and completing the stitch, yarn over and insert your hook into the next stitch and draw up a loop. Yarn over and pull through the first two loops.
Finally, yarn over and pull through all three loops.
Like the increase, I am doing a half double crochet decrease at the beginning and end of each row. The more you decrease, the more your rows will become smaller and have fewer stitches.
I hope you enjoyed my Crochet 101 lesson on how to increase and decrease stitches. Stay tuned next week where I teach you how to change colors.
Check out any of my previous Crochet 101 lessons by clicking here.
Be sure to check out and subscribe to my blog for all future projects, hauls, and much more. As always, thanks for stopping by!
Do you know how to crochet already? Have you always thought about opening up an Etsy Shop? Now you can! Click here where you will earn 40 free listings when you open up your Etsy Shop.
This post might contain affiliate links, view my disclosure policy for details.
Leave a Reply